Shubrew (Zelienople) has upgraded their brewhouse and recently refreshed their brand, in what looks to be a big year for the brewery.
In December 2020, the brewery took delivery of a new 10bbl brewhouse. This not only saves time in their brewing operations but will also allow them to produce even more beer. (See the picture below of the brand new brewhouse). Now in 2021, ShuBrew’s primary focus for this year is their brand refresh. “As we started discussing goals for 2021 and the things we would want to change, coupled with the pandemic and how the industry has evolved as a whole; we felt the overall branding needed an upgrade.” – says Shubrew co-owner Erika Shumaker
“We are very excited about all the changes going on this year in our town, and hope with the several breweries that have opened up nearby, Zelienople will become more of a craft beer destination than it already is.” – ErikA Shumaker
As Erika tells us, a primary concern they identified, was a disconnect between the beer and the restaurant with their consumers. Since the brewery is not housed in the main restaurant/taproom or General Shu’s, and food being such an important part of their focus, sometimes the beer had been “forgotten” and people weren’t thinking of both Shubrew and Beer. She continues, “Although quality, sustainable food will always be a part of who we are, beer is ultimately the most important aspect of ShuBrew.”
The brewery had pulled back some distribution last year, and while they had amazing local customers, it wasn’t enough. They weren’t getting beer out to consumers who were used to picking it up at their local Giant Eagle, or a bottle shop around the Pittsburgh area.
As a result of all of this, they determined they needed to refresh their image, focus on making their core brands more readily available, and offer a more “brewery” vibe at the restaurant. In addition, Shubrew has applied for direct shipping to PA customers and hopes to offer this within the near future, along with distributing when possible to some wholesale accounts.
Can artists were narrowed down to two to create more consistent artwork, can art, and marketing promotions, images, and colors. The first image that needed updating was their ShuBrew logo, designed by one of their artists Justin Guerino, and Shubrew is also working on all new merchandise. In addition, Shubrew is also redesigning some aspects of the restaurant to give it a more “brewery feel”. Their main goal is the addition of a rooftop bar to allow a more relaxed, outdoor vibe for their customers. These changes are expected in the spring/early summer timeframe so stay tuned!
Finally, after the rebrand and other changes, Shubrew plans to have draft and cans available on the roof, and always have “College American” Light Lager, “Jungle Boot” IPA, a “Pixelated” on tap, and depending on space, a “Smooshie” Fruited Sour and “Shunami” Dessert Stout. These consistent taps will be in addition to an updated menu.
“We had a strong plan to get us through the pandemic while being able to maintain our staff and operations. We took the opportunity to make ourselves better brewers and we had a lot of fun while doing it. Unfortunately, this plan stripped away at the distribution footprint that Erika spent such a long time building. We knew if we wanted to keep everyone employed we needed to cut out wholesale and sell the beer ourselves. Now that things are starting to open back up, we thought we should come out of the pandemic as strongly as we went into it. A new look is just the start. We now have two restaurants (ShuBrew & General Shu’s which opened in August), a new brewing system, two new beer series (Smooshie & Shunami), the imminent launch of our rooftop bar, and distribution is back and growing about 100% each week over the last month.” – Zach Shumaker, co-owner/head brewer at Shubrew.
Keep up with ShuBrew’s growth for yourself by following them on Facebook and Instagram. And of course, visit one (or both) of their locations in Zelienople, PA.
